What Christ did

He did not pass on His burdens. He bore all burdens undeserving upon Himself. He took upon Him the sins of the world and did not pass on a single one.

This is in stark contrast to us. When we get DESERVING feedback from the world around us, we try to avoid it, deflect it, deny it, fight it, resist it as much as possible. When we get UNDESERVING feedback, we project it out onto others.

These negative responses to both justified and unjustified suffering merely impose more suffering on others.

Example: Your friend insults you. This is either a justifiable insult, or a completely unjustifiable one. Either way you can respond with:

1. Retaliation. They hurt you so now you can hurt them back to balance it out.

2. Diffuse the situation without retaliation. You didn’t want to hurt them, but now are emotionally troubled by this experience and hurt other people you encounter as a result.

In both scenarios, the underlying reality is that you felt uncomfortable with the pain of the situation that was inflicted on you. Whether the pain inflicted on you was justified or not, you wanted to get rid of that unwanted pain.

In scenario 1, the retaliation feels like a quick and easy way to release the pain back onto the other person. In scenario 2, you feel like the unfairness of your pain justifies you making others feel bad too.

Both of those concepts have many nuances that could be explored, but the point I am making is that Jesus did not do either. Jesus did nothing to deserve the pain he experienced while He was alive in human form. This means that He did nothing to deserve any kind of suffering. All the pain He experienced was undeserving, yet He did not pass on any of the pain to others. He took all the pain and transmuted it into Love through His Truth, Compassion, and Forgiveness.

When we try to take all pain and transmute it, instead of releasing onto another, we are following the Way of Christ.

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